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River Street streetcar arrives

An authentic streetcar from the 1930s was delivered Wednesday to the Roundhouse Rail Road Museum. The car will be used as a passenger streetcar on River Street as early as mid-December.
The streetcar will run as part of the Dot system -- a fare-free downtown transportation network. There will be seven stops along the streetcar's route, which will run east to west and west to east on River Street.
Contractors in Pennsylvania were hired by the city to refurbish the car and make it handicapped accessible. It is retrofitted with a state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly propulsion system.
Currently, its onductors are undergoing training to operate the car, which originally was used in Melbourne, Australia. Passenger streetcars haven't been used in Savannah for more than 60 years.
Horse-drawn streetcars were used on rails throughout Savannah beginning in 1869. The first electric streetcar was put into operation in 1890, and the last day of streetcar operation was Aug. 26, 1946.